Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 468 Lightning-Fast Rescue

Su Mu was also taken aback upon hearing this unexpected news.

Duke Peter was a rare hero who held both a Catholic title and a royal title. Most importantly, he was highly capable, had unwavering faith, and was a trustworthy figure in the kingdom.

Logically speaking, he and his ascetic monks, who were defending the high city, should not have been defeated unless they were besieged by a large army.

After all, Isildur had attacked Highland City before, although it was because he didn't want to waste time, but it also showed the defensive capabilities of Highland City. How could it have been suddenly conquered?
"According to news from the kingdom, the city of the highlands has not yet been captured. However, Duke Peter fell into the enemy's trap and was ambushed in the town of Horeng. He and the Bishop of Light have disappeared and their fates are unknown."

The city of Highlands is currently leaderless, with the son of the Duke of John temporarily serving as its lord, and morale is extremely low.

Gaunt has led the Crimson Rebels toward the Highlands city; it seems they won't be able to hold them off!

Su Mu unfolded the map and carefully examined these key locations, his brows furrowed.

The kingdom's original plan for an encirclement required not only the troops who had come from afar, but also the cooperation of cities in the heartland to launch a more effective attack.

If Highland City falls, it will not only create a breach in the defenses but also provide Gaunt with more Crimson troops and undead. Highland City is a large city with millions of inhabitants and many devout believers; if it falls to the Crimson rebels, the impact will be enormous.

However, given the current situation, even if he studies diligently after taking office, it may be too late to catch up.

Horeng Town is a small town right next to Highland City, only a day's journey from the main city. Kuraki's troops have only just reached Graystone City and need to traverse the entire hinterland, not knowing what obstacles they will encounter along the way. Unless he leads his flying units to travel at top speed, but the griffins are all advancing in the valley cities and there is really no way to mobilize them.

"This is bad!"

This incident was truly unexpected; the battlefield is ever-changing, and no one can predict things with such precision.

Who knows what kind of boost Gaunt will get after conquering the Highlands? If he accumulates a large number of special units and colludes with Rhodes, this campaign to quell the rebellion will be really tough.

Peter is a veteran hero, he shouldn't have made such a basic mistake.

"The ruins of Cloud City! Gaunt must have used this method to lure Peter out of the city."

It must be said that Gaunt, as the eldest prince of mankind, had a very good grasp of the psychology of the nobles. He knew that Peter believed in the light and would take the risk.

This includes using Congress to set fire to the altar, causing chaos in the heartland.

These people are far more dangerous than those undead heroes who are unfamiliar with the kingdom; they must be eliminated as soon as possible.

"Sir Swift received orders from Congress and set out ahead of schedule, which may be able to help Highland City."

Hearing this news, Su Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief. But Murak, though powerful, remained a human hero, bound by many rules and unable to fully utilize his abilities. Gaunt, after becoming an undead, was utterly ruthless, employing countless treacherous schemes. To deal with such a cunning individual, one couldn't simply follow the enemy's lead.

"Order Sederlos to speed up the march and reach the northern hinterland ahead of time. First, wipe out the remaining undead forces, and then concentrate your forces to deal with the Crimson Rebels."

Tell him, leave no one alive!

If a tumor grows inside the flesh, you must be ruthless and not hesitate to remove it because you pity the surrounding healthy flesh, otherwise the rotten flesh will only increase.

……

Upon receiving the message from Congress, Sir Swift immediately led his knightly legions to Highland City at top speed. Fortunately, things had not yet reached the worst possible state.

Although there are a large number of undead and blood rebels on the outskirts, the city has not been breached. Due to their lax discipline, the blood rebels have not yet fully reached outside the city.

Seeing this, Murak didn't hesitate and led 300 high-ranking knights to charge at the Crimson Rebels.

The enemy's flanks were filled with low-level soldiers like Blood Crossbowmen and thugs. Because they were still on their way, they had not yet assembled into a proper formation, and their ranged units were not in place either, so they were no match for the cavalry charge.

After charging back and forth three times, the cavalry killed thousands of blood-red rebels. Then, carrying their broken banner, they swaggered back to the hilltop, looking down at the chaotic rebel army. They maintained their posture of continuing to charge, which frightened the blood-red rebels on the flanks into fleeing in panic, and the entire army formation fell into chaos.

"A bunch of rabble doesn't deserve to attack the highland city!"

The mobility of cavalry is the most important factor. Even though the highland city has strong defenses, Murak did not intend to enter the city.

Gaunt's strongest force is the Lich King, a ranged legion. What they fear most is being engaged by high-speed legions at close range. Keeping cavalry outside the city is a huge threat, preventing the enemy from launching a reckless attack. This is true aid to the Highland City.

According to the previous plan of the parliament, Kuraki's army would also come to support them, but with Duke Peter's whereabouts unknown, no matter how fast Sumu's troops were dispatched, they could not arrive in time.

What we need to do now is delay the enemy's siege. Once the other reinforcements arrive, we can wipe out Gaunt's rebels.

After the cavalry harassment, the entire Crimson Rebels arrived in about half a day.

Looking at the bizarre lich kings covering the mountains and plains, even someone as resilient as Murak couldn't help but take a deep breath.

【The Wicked Lich King (Graveyard Tier 5, Tier 2 Unit, Baptized by Dark Elements): Attack 16, Defense 13, Ammo 24, Damage 13-18, Health 45, Speed ​​7, Large Size.

Element: Darkness. Ranged unit, undead unit.

Death Cloud: Dense black mist of death corrodes life, causing area damage (but does not damage friendly undead units), and enemies attacked take 20% more damage from undead.

Darkest Curse: The black mist of death carries some curses, with a 20% chance to randomly trigger one of them (curse possession, weakness, blindness).

Assessment: These mutated lich kings possess even more powerful damage amplification abilities.

Fortunately, although the enemy had many Lich Kings, their units baptized by dark elements numbered only a few hundred, which was barely enough to handle. Gaunt and the undead hero stood on a hill ten miles from the highland city, directing their army to begin the siege.

At this point, cavalry can no longer enter the battlefield at will, otherwise they will be targeted by ranged units, and even advanced cavalry will not be able to escape.

Fortunately, the defenses of the Highland City were very strong, and with Murak applying pressure from the outside, Gaunt had to be on guard against knight attacks at all times, and was unable to use his skills for the time being.

So, after leaving behind the corpses of several thousand skeleton soldiers, Gaunt temporarily withdrew his troops.

……

Inside the Crimson Camp, Gaunt was in a rage, dealing with several rash Crimson commanders.

He was greedy and lustful, and it was one thing for him to bully prisoners, but did he not consider the current situation? Even though Duke Peter was missing and the city of the highlands was not damaged, he still dared to march so recklessly. Murak seized on this loophole, and his morale, which had been high, returned to square one.

"Contact Rhodes and have him and the Dark Knights come to me to join me in besieging Highland City. After we succeed, we'll split the entire duchy in half."

After sending out his envoy, Gunter paced around in the same spot several times, growing increasingly agitated.

"Isn't there any way to lure Murak over? The Lich King's attack alone could inflict heavy losses on them."

The blood-red marshals exchanged glances, none of them daring to respond.

There is a way to lure Murak over. As long as we put enough pressure on the Highland City, it will definitely make a move when faced with the crisis of the city falling.

But the question is, who will act as the bait?

When it comes to robbing treasures, seizing women, and claiming credit, everyone is naturally enthusiastic. But when it comes to matters of life and death, everyone falls silent.

As everyone saw during the day, the highland city is nestled against a cliff, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. The city's defenses are also ample, and despite Duke Peter's disappearance, it has remained orderly and disciplined. Creating a crisis would inevitably lead to death, and a large number of deaths at that.

Before, they were just following behind the undead, picking fruit to eat. But when it came to a real attack, they were still a bit hesitant.

"A bunch of trash!"

This is where the difference between regular troops and rebels becomes apparent. Sometimes, even when the kingdom's soldiers know they are outnumbered, they can still hold their ground, while the Crimson Rebels are cowards who bully the weak and fear the strong. They might instill fear through momentary madness, but if they encounter setbacks, they become unreliable.

Gunter could certainly order his men to draw the enemy's attention, but if they were defeated by Highland City again and gained confidence, it would be much harder to fight them.

In addition, he arrived in a hurry and the siege engines were not yet in place, making a strong attack on the city quite difficult.

Murak is too fast. If it were an ordinary knight, Gaunt might be able to restrain him to some extent, but he is so fast that he is too difficult to catch.

At this critical moment, the leader of the parasitic bandits had a sudden inspiration. He ran to Gaunt's ear and whispered a wicked plan.

Since Duke Peter was missing, the parasitic bandits manipulated some priests of light to disguise themselves as a distressed cult force and secretly contacted Murak.

The Duke has a clue about the angel and is in a life-or-death crisis. Will you, Murak, save him?
Familiar tricks, but they always work on humans. These compassionate heroes will always be fooled! One after another, there will always be people they can't save.

Even if we can't trick Murak or surround the knights, as long as we can lure them out of the battlefield, attacking the highland city will be much easier.

Gaunt thought it was a good idea. Although the parasitic bandits could not affect units of level 4 or above in battle, they could still invade the Light Priests who were completely defenseless. At most, they could use some manipulation to incite their hearts.

Having the priest of light lure Murak will greatly increase the success rate.

After agreeing on the plan, Gaunt ordered the parasitic bandits to act immediately, dispatching a group of lich kings as an ambush force.

Gunter was in high spirits and was about to enjoy a few more delicious pastries when a messenger brought news.

"A large number of holy light miracles appeared in Horeng Town, attacking indiscriminately. All the garrisoned skeleton soldiers were purified, and even the Crimson Legion was burned and retreated from the town."

Gunter stood frozen in place. Wasn't Horeng Town a bait he had deliberately placed to lure people into the shattered ruins of Cloud City? Why was he suddenly pulling this stunt?
"Duke Peter and the Holy Knight launched a surprise attack?"

"No, after the church in Holung Town was stained with the blood of believers of light, it suddenly emitted a great deal of light in the early hours of the second day, and countless white feathers fell from the sky."

We wanted to investigate, but we couldn't get close.

Gaunt's first thought was that the humans were also using this feint to try and lift the siege of Highland City.

But upon closer reflection, the trap in Horeng Town was set up by him personally, with the blood-stained feathers of the Cloud City ruins placed there to create a false impression; there could never have been any real holy light.

That leaves only Duke Peter and the Bishop of Light, or perhaps they left a contingency plan at the last moment, which they activated after the Crimson Rebels left, in an attempt to lure him back.

Of course, there is another possibility: that by chance, he actually led humanity to discover the ruins of light, and the bloodline of angels returned to the human world.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"That old Peter must be playing a trick on me, trying to fool me. How ridiculous!"

"Continue with the plan. Once Murak leaves, we'll launch a full-scale attack on the city!"

(End of this chapter)